Trina Solario hit four doubles and picked up the win in the circle Friday at Manteca High where the Buffaloes beat Weston Ranch, 18-8.

BRANDON PETERSEN/The Bulletin

The offense was as impressive as the defense was sloppy for both sides Friday afternoon in an 18-8 Buffaloes win over Weston Ranch at Manteca High.

Knotted at five apiece heading into the home half of the third, Manteca broke it open with a six-run rally highlighted by a two-run double from Trina Solario.

Solario went nuts from the plate, finishing 5 for 5 with four doubles, RBIs and runs scored, respectively.“She’s awesome,” Manteca head coach Todd Hardcastle said of Solario. “She’s a great kid and she’s a great leader. She’s the best captain that I’ve had, and I’ve had some decent ones. The girls respect her; it’s just awesome having her on the team.”

After Mariah Navarro tossed the first two, allowing five and striking out one, Solario took over, striking out the side in the third and finishing with five total and three runs allowed.

“It’s such a relief to finally win,” Solario said. “I think we’re finally coming together as a team, hopefully it will continue the rest of the season. But I think we got the nerves out, and our hitting is getting a lot better, so we have to keep it up.”Manteca, which sports top-notch defensive talent at almost every position, had a number of mental lapses in the field which led to several Cougar scores.

It’s a bug-a-boo that has irritated the Buffaloes all season long, and head coach Todd Hardcastle addressed the issue in his postgame talk.

“That will come,” Solario said. “We weren’t concentrating very well today, but we’re going to pick it up.”

Said Hardcastle: “Offensively, we’re capable of (10-run wins), we’re that kind of team. But we can’t give up eight runs every time and expect to win.

“Our defense needs to tighten up quite a bit.”

The same could be said for the Cougars, who struggled just as much with the leather.

Angelysa Washington got the start and rung up three through six innings of work, but Manteca capitalized on two errors each in the fourth and fifth to score five runs.

“It’s errors,” Weston Ranch head coach Melanie Berezay said. “It’s all errors. This is a varsity team, they’ve played forever and they know what’s going on. It’s just a lot of mental mistakes.”

Washington was nails at the dish, finishing with a double and a triple, a run scored and three RBIs.

Nicole Washington had two singles and scored a run and Alexandra Alvarado scored two runs on a pair of walks.

“Angelysa had a very good game, she did a great job,” Berezay said.

Kayla Campbell was 4 for 5 with three runs scored, and Chandler Rose went 3 for 4 with a run scored and four batted in.

Chellsee Lee was 4 for 5 with three RBIs and Raylynn Saint smashed a two-run double in the first.

Melissa Bond was 2 for 4 with three runs scored, and Danielle Roberts scored two more.

Manteca (1-3 VOL) travels to Sierra Tuesday, while the Cougars (1-3) head to East Union.